Download doesn't continue when app is running in the background.

It sounds to me that this is merely and excuse for TiVo not working correctly in the Eco system they are publishing an application in. While I am not sure the 'type' of download is being attempted, what I am sure is that this can be corrected by getting with the program and conforming to limitations of the environment. Not always, but by in large, I am pretty happy with iOS and what it offers. It seems to me that the onus is on TiVo to change the way they work not point the finger at iOS. If it means changing where and how file processing works and having the serving device become a straight file download, so be it.

Bottom line for me is that the way this works makes it's whole use pretty cumbersome. I'm less interested in excuses than I am in getting a more useful app.

After reading the Apple developer docs I don't think it's possible for TiVo to download in the background. TiVo isn't really downloading a file. They're downloading hundreds/thousands of files. The TiVo stream uses a technology called HLS, which basically breaks up the video into 10 second chunks, each it's own file. A playlist file is the only thing that links these files together as a single stream. The feature in iOS that allows downloads to continue in the background requires that you request permission for a specific URL when the app is closed. But because the video is being transcoded on the fly the URLs for most of the files in the video would be invalid at that point. There is a way to request permission from the OS for a new URL at a set interval, but it's like every 15 minutes, so the TiVo app would only be able to request permission to download a 10 second check every 15 minutes. It would take a loooooooong time to download a file that way.

That being said I'm not an iOS developer so there could be some trick I'm not aware of that would allow this to work, but based on my quick reading of the docs it doesn't look like it's possible.

If it does indeed work this way, how it works simply needs to change. A file stream can contain anything. A single open stream 'could' have multiple snippets in it, that look like little files to both the sender and receiver with no one being the wiser. The TiVo device just needs to pack these into a single open stream. Not a big deal at all.

Not really sure of any of the technical details of the devices or if this is the only roadblock, but this seems to be a solveable problem, with a little bit of work. My guess is this is all just piggy backed on how device to device playback works with little emphasis on how this should work best.

This can be fixed, it would greatly improve the app, and it should be. Even if it means changing the software on a device and/or having different devices perform slightly differently.

That's where another Apple limitation comes in. They require HLS for video streaming. So TiVo has no choice in the matter there. Now they could use a different format for downloads, as opposed to streaming, but that becomes an issue for the Stream hardware which would need to be capable of generating two different stream types. They would also need to use a different type of encryption, which they would have to get approved by Cable Labs.

Insisting that it "can be fixed" when you don't even understand the technology or the rules in place is a bit arrogant. I'm sure that if it were easy we'd have it by now. The TiVo app has had many major updates since it was released, and at least a half dozen since iOS7. I'm sure the TiVo engineers have looked into this. If it were just a simple change we'd have it already.